Emily White

Engineered Metarhizium fungi produce longifolene to attract and kill mosquitoes - Nature Microbiology Insects colonized with Metarhizium fungi emit longifolene to lure new hosts for infection to disperse spores. A fungal strain was engineered to emit longifolene to attract and eliminate mosquitoes.

OUT NOW! - Engineered Metarhizium fungi produce longifolene to attract and kill mosquitoes 🍄🧲🦟☠️

By Dan Tang, Jun Cao, Raymond Leger, Jianhua Huang, Weiguo Fang & colleagues.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A widespread hydrogenase supports fermentative growth of gut bacteria in healthy people - Nature Microbiology A previously uncharacterized microbial enzyme is responsible for the production of molecular hydrogen in the gut, which drives the growth of other bacteria and has implications for human health.

Why can our farts ignite? Time to find out (and quite a bit more) in our new paper in Nature Microbiology led by the amazing Dr Cait Welsh. Integrating atomic-to-ecosystem level insights. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mapping Plasmodium transitions and interactions in the Anopheles female - Nature Single-cell transcriptomic analyses of Plasmodium falciparum and Anopheles gambiae reveal key developmental stages, processes and factors in parasite–mosquito interactions and identify potential targets for blocking malaria transmission.

Nature research paper: Mapping Plasmodium transitions and interactions in the Anopheles female

go.nature.com/3JpOq0K

Our most recent editorial explains why the @natmicrobiol.nature.com team attend conferences.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Its also time for us to start planning our 2026 travels, so if you are organising or attending any microbiology conferences next year, please let us know! 👇

#microsky

Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for genetic code expansion - Nature Bacterial ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters can be utilized and engineered to transport non-canonical amino acids into Escherichia coli for highly efficient synthesis of proteins with novel func...

🚨Our paper is out! 🥳
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion.
Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

it all started years ago with a failed experiment
🧵👇 1/9

A matryoshka doll of archaea and their viruses 🪆

Climate Change and Infectious Diseases Through this cross-journal Collection, the editors at Communications Medicine, Nature Communications, Nature Microbiology, Nature Health, and Scientific ...

📢 A new collection 'Climate Change and Infectious Diseases' is open for submissions!

A joint project with @natcomms.nature.com @nathealth.nature.com & @commsmed.nature.com, with @julietai.bsky.social as the lead editor for Nature Microbiology

#MicroSky 🦠
More info: www.nature.com/collections/...

Deadline today (Wed) for short talks.

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

I will be at #EESMicrobiome hosted by @events.embl.org from tomorrow.

Looking forward to meeting brilliant people and learning about their exciting research.

If you catch me around, do talk to me about publishing in Nature Microbiology.

#MicrobiomeSky #MicroSky

Cover image of the book "Ocean art" by Helen Scales featuring artwork depicting various marine organisms

New Books & Arts 👇

Marine muses: Rene Martin @lampichthys.bsky.social reviews "Ocean Art: From the Shore to the Deep" by @helenscales.bsky.social

"This book is a must-read for art enthusiasts and ocean lovers"

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Free to read: rdcu.be/eGpor

The multi-kingdom cancer microbiome - Nature Microbiology This Review discusses what comprises the ‘cancer microbiome’, summarizing the studies on tumour-associated microbes, examining the evidence and assessing their impact on the disease.

#Review

The multi-kingdom cancer microbiome
@ilievlab.bsky.social

#MicrobiomeSky #MicroSky #CancerSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Post-vacation Monday for me so its definitely a 7...

Australia approves first vaccine to save koalas from chlamydia A vaccine to protect Australia's koalas against chlamydia has been approved for the first time, a development that scientists believe could stop the spread of the deadly disease that has ravaged populations of the beloved endangered animal.

Would you like some good news? A new vaccine has just been approved for protecting koalas from chlamydia, which is one of their leading causes of death.

The multi-kingdom cancer microbiome - Nature Microbiology This Review discusses what comprises the ‘cancer microbiome’, summarizing the studies on tumour-associated microbes, examining the evidence and assessing their impact on the disease.

The #cancer #microbiome: the facts, the myth, and our take on it- with @abdohlman.bsky.social , Xiangyu Pan and Laurence Zitvogel. Out now @natmicrobiol.nature.com just in time for the start of the academic year @wcm-imp.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Future ocean warming may cause large reductions in Prochlorococcus biomass and productivity - Nature Microbiology Decade-long field measurements and modelling show that projected ocean temperatures could restrict cell division rates of an important marine cyanobacterium.

Prochlorococcus — Earth’s smallest and most abundant photosynthetic organism and an important oxygen producer — may see population reductions of up to 51% in tropical oceans by 2100 under moderate and high warming scenarios, according to a modelling study in @natmicrobiol.nature.com:

#Ecology

I’m not as good about this as I should be, but tremendous thank yous to the researchers that suggest alternate reviewers if they themselves can’t review a manuscript

The August issue is now fully online, with a beautiful cover that might be a nostalgia trigger for some of us (young people can find an explanation in the Editorial):

www.nature.com/nplants/volu...

📢 Authors, stay sharp!
Scammers are sending fake acceptance letters & asking for money
- Only trust official email domains
- Be wary of payment requests
- Use official channels to confirm
🚨 Report suspicious stuff ⤵️
www.springernature.com/gp/legal/piracy
#AcademicIntegrity #ScamAlert #SpringerNature

FungAMR: a comprehensive database for investigating fungal mutations associated with antimicrobial resistance Nature Microbiology - An online, manually curated and continually updating database of fungal antimicrobial resistance mutations provides a starting point for further research in fungal AMR.

#Resource

An online, manually curated, and continually updating database of fungal antimicrobial resistance mutations that provides a starting point for further research in fungal AMR

@christianlandry.bsky.social @camillebed17.bsky.social @nmquijada.bsky.social

#MicroSky 🦠🍄💉

rdcu.be/eAUZm

Characterization of an amyloid-based antiphage defence system in Escherichia coli - Nature Microbiology Prion-like proteins in Escherichia coli trigger an abortive infection mechanism in response to phage infection—a process similar to amyloid-mediated immune signalling in fungi and animals.

#NewResearch

Prion-like proteins in Escherichia coli trigger an abortive infection mechanism in response to phage infection—a process similar to amyloid-mediated immune signalling in fungi and animals.

#MicroSky 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Challenges and opportunities in mRNA vaccine development against bacteria - Nature Microbiology This Review reflects on the major challenges in bacterial mRNA vaccine design, provides strategies for tailoring mRNA construct design to promote humoral or cellular immunity, and provides an overview...

An important and timely Review in @natmicrobiol.nature.com:

Challenges and opportunities in mRNA vaccine development against bacteria

by Ine Lentacker, @impenslab.bsky.social & co

#microsky 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

This is the science I want funded (alongside curing cancer etc)

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Scientists claim to have unlocked ‘secret sauce’ needed for fine chocolate Results of studying cocoa bean fermentation in Colombia could pave way to manipulate flavour, say researchers

📰 Read The Guardian coverage here: www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

One of my favourite papers of 2025 so far and its on chocolate! 🍫

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation

🧪 Read the paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🔎 The associated news & views here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial - Nature Medicine A free-living trial in people with overweight or obesity found that minimally processed diets led to greater weight loss and cardiometabolic improvements than ultraprocessed diets following UK healthy...

A randomized trial of ultraprocessed vs minimally processed food diets for 8 weeks
Guess which one led to more weight and fat mass loss
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Evolution of antifungal resistance in the environment - Nature Microbiology This Review discusses the evolution, emergence and expansion of environmental fungicide and antifungal drug resistance.

#Review

A discussion on the evolution, emergence and expansion of environmental fungicide and antifungal drug resistance. 🍄

#MicroSky 🦠 @drjorhodes.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What if you could monitor and modulate your gut microbiome via your smartphone app?!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...